Today’s stop is for Dre Keeton’s TWithin the Walls. We will have info about the book and author, and a great excerpt from the book, plus a great giveaway. Make sure to check everything out and enter the giveaway.

Happy Reading :)

Perfect opposites in a far from perfect world.

Jackson and Lenah are from two different worlds. Lenah is among the elite inSundale City. Jackson, on the other hand, is broke, Psycho Infectedand has a criminal record growing by the minute. It’s safe to say,in another life, the two would never have crossed paths.

But when Jackson is assigned to work for Lenah in an effort to use his PIabilities for something productive, things get complicated.

As their worlds collide, they realize how much they’ve both sufferedand struggled with the darkness the infection brought the world.

But the closer they become, the more dangerous things get. It isn’tjust that PI and human relationships are forbidden, but Lenah'spowerful fiancé has no intention of letting her go. And as people inthe American Walled Cities start disappearing, Jackson and Lenahdiscover there's something even more sinister at play than herpending nuptials.

Lenah Noseki strolled from the parking lot, bravely moving toward the cluster of protestors outside. They were a not-so-quiet ambush waiting for her as she made her way toward the hospital.“Back off!” she yelled at a horde of men and women who pushed into her, trying to block her way to the front doors of the building.It wasn’t as if she wanted to be there. It wasn’t like she was thrilled to be signing away her brother’s life. Just like them, she longed for the days before the infection. But this was life now.“I said, ‘Back off!’” Lenah shouted again as a group of women linked arms in front of her.It had only taken her seven years to get the hang of it, but she’d finally grown accustomed to the pushy nature of selfrighteous protesters. She’d learned the hard way that niceties like “excuse me” didn’t work for these people. They were too blinded by their cause to extend common courtesy.No, Lenah knew she had to wear her game face with this crowd. The irony was that she agreed with them, for the most part. She wasn’t a fanatic, but the infection sucked. Particularly on a day like today. But that didn’t mean she was going to stand in the street holding up traffic like a raving lunatic. Honestly, who had the time?Lenah wiped her hands down the sides of her pants, her palms sweating with anticipation as she moved further into the crowd, bursting through human fences and stepping over sitting protesters.The chaos was starting to get to her. She’d been a seesaw all morning—up and down on how confident she was with her choice.“Do you not believe in the sanctity of life, young lady?” A graying old man stepped into Lenah’s path. “Every life has the potential to bloom. Don’t give in to the will of the abominations. Protect your loved ones, and don’t offer them up on a silver platter!” he yelled at her as she tried to push past him. Hiswrinkled hands held on firmly to a sign that read “Don’t let our lives go over Psycho!”Lenah rolled her eyes and made an attempt to go around him, but he shifted, determined to complicate her morning. “Move it, old man, or the bloom of your life will end right here and now. No Psycho necessary.” Planting her feet, she narrowed her eyes at him, watching as surprise flickered across his features. He obviously hadn’t been expecting resistance.He stepped away, drifting back into the crowd, and she smiled after him, feeling like an accomplished badass. They didn’t usually run scared. Things typically turned into a screaming match, but she must have looked extra fierce that morning. Her high-puff ponytail and fitted overalls must have given all of the “don’t fuck with me” vibes she needed.She wiped at beads of sweat forming on her forehead, and the corners of her smile inched downward. There was a reason she was extra fierce today. She had to be.Butterflies fluttered in her stomach as she approached the skyscraping hospital. It was the only one in Sundale, big enough to take up a city block, and it triple-functioned as hospital, feeding center, and mental institution.She was already exhausted, and the hardest part of her visit hadn’t even started. She stopped in front of the large, PI-proof double doors and sucked in a deep breath. She shivered as she pulled them open and stepped inside.

Dre Keeton is the oldest of three children, a tequila enthusiast, and fueled by plants. One of her favorite things, aside from chatting with her dog, is creating fictional worlds that seem likely. Dre is an avid promoter of diversity in literature and seeks to mirror that in her own work.

Birthright (The Technomage Archive, Book...
In recent months, I have been taking a greater interest in fiction projects on Kickstarter, and I have the author of Birthright to thank for this. His book was the first project I've ever backed, and since then I've had the joy of discovering more authors, both independent and established, who have turned to such crowd-funding sites as an alternative to traditional publishing.

Not to mention, sites like Kickstarter are also beneficial for writers with great ideas who plan to put out their work by themselves -- writers like B.J. Keeton, with his novel that plays with genre conventions. Birthright was successfully funded in the summer of 2012, and all the hard work came to fruition earlier last week when the completed book went up on Amazon and backers like myself found ebook copies in our inboxes.

Birthright is the first book of a planned science-fiction/fantasy trilogy called the Technomage Archives. It begins with main protagonist Ceril Bain's discovery of a mysterious sword buried in his grandfather's garden. Gramps identifies it as a Technomage sword and tells Ceril stories about these high-tech wizard-like members of the Charonic Archive.

Six years later, Ceril is himself preparing to become a full-fledged Charon in his own right, after training and being educated aboard a space ship capable of inter-dimensional travel, called the Inkwell Sigil. However, right before he can begin the final step to become initiated into the order, the Sigil loses power and becomes stranded in space. Together with four of his fellow classmates, Ceril must embark on a mission into uncharted territory to find a legendary Technomage who may be the only person alive with the power to help them.

Know that famous quote from Arthur C. Clarke about any sufficiently advanced technology being indistinguishable from magic? I keep seeing this book's premise as an exploration of that very idea, with its creative blending of sci-fi and fantasy elements. This hybrid-genre book is unlike any I've read before. The "science-y" bits are fascinating and imaginative, always piquing my interest to find out more details behind the technology. At the same time, so much about the Technomages are magic-based and shrouded in mystery, enough to keep the hardcore fantasy fan in me happy and in her comfort-zone.

Like many self-published works, I think the book can benefit from additional rounds of editing and revisions just to sort out the pacing, tighten up the plot and tweak things up a bit, but I'd imagine writing and putting out a book on your own can't be easy or cheap. Bearing in mind it is an indie author self-published book, I really do think Birthright is quite fantastic as it is. The only real rocky part I felt was towards the beginning, before the "Six Years Later" kicks in and we skip ahead to Ceril's life aboard the Inkwell Sigil. Still, the marked difference almost makes me think this might be deliberate, to reflect Ceril's young age and innocence at this earlier stage in time, his simple and naive way of looking at the world and people around him. In fact, while reading the first few chapters of the book, the point-of-view and tone made me think Birthright was meant to be a Young Adult novel.

However, this definitely shifts as soon as we skip ahead the six years, which occurs about a quarter of the way into the book. It is noticeable enough that it almost feels like Birthright has an unspoken Part I and Part II. For me, it's like the book actually starts at this point six years later, when the plot picks up, the action and adventure begins, and Ceril grows up to become a more complex and interesting character.

Speaking of which, I find there really are no standard "cookie-cutter" protagonists in this book, and that's a good thing; like real people, they are multi-faceted and sometimes so hard to pin down. So many times I found myself shocked (for better or worse) with a character's decision when they do something completely unexpected, which keeps me wondering and on my toes. Ceril himself is not someone I would at first think of as a hero or even a leader (he's always saying things like how he has no desire to become a soldier because he doesn't want to risk himself, or that he doesn't want responsibility for other people's lives, not to mention he's the kind of person who would carelessly sleep through an alarm on the most important day of his life) and it's fascinating to see him grow into the role.

Finally, as a big fan of massively multiplayer online games, I was also really geeking out at the book's description of "Instances" and of the way the characters would travel to and between these "pocket-universes" that exist in the same physical space as one another by using swirly-looking portals. The author admits to being an avid MMO player on Birthright's Kickstarter page, and it's always such a treat to read books by a fellow gamer and see gaming references and nods to MMORPGs in their work. If he decides to do another Kickstarter for the sequel, I would definitely pledge my support again.

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